->''"George is a monkey, and he does things we can't do."''-->--The [=PBS=] Kids show

Curious George is a series of books and a TV spin-off, plus a movie, based on the character by Margret and H.A. Rey. George is a monkey who is found overseas in Africa by "The Man With the Yellow Hat," a father-figure who takes the monkey home with him to his apartment in the city. HilarityEnsues when the monkey is treated like a human child, rather than a pet. The books and series are marketed to the preschooler/early reader group and attempt to give children an early grasp on patterns and other bits of necessary information about life.

!!''Curious George'' in printThe original books are as listed below. There have also been a number of pastiche works, most of them out of print for years.* ''Curious George'' (1941).* ''Curious George Takes a Job'' (1947).* ''Curious George Rides a Bike'' (1952).* ''Curious George Gets a Medal'' (1957).* ''Curious George Flies a Kite'' (1958).* ''Curious George Learns the Alphabet'' (1963).* ''Curious George Goes to the Hospital'' (1966).

!!''Curious George'' at the moviesCurious George has been adapted into three films, one in theatres and two straight to DVD:* ''Curious George'' (2006)* ''Curious George 2: Follow That Monkey!'' (2010)* ''Curious George 3: Back to the Jungle'' ([[http://www.amazon.com/Curious-George-3-Back-Jungle/dp/B00TPL8DF4 June 23, 2015]])

!!''Curious George'' on television''Curious George'' was first adapted in to a series of animated shorts in 1980 that would play during the Creator/DisneyChannel's "Circle Time" block. A StopMotion animated special titled "The Adventures of Curious George" consisting of two segments adapting the original book and "Goes to the Hospital" respectively was later made in 1982. In 2006, an animated EdutainmentShow adaptation debuted on PBS. The show depicts George using science, math, and engineering concepts to solve problems on a level consistent with preschool-age children. [[note]]The page quote arose from the TV show in a conscious attempt to discourage preschoolers from causing trouble or endangering themselves by imitating George's monkey shenanigans.[[/note]]----! The ''Curious George'' franchise includes examples of:

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[[folder:General Tropes applying to the books, TV show, and movies]]* AdultsAreUseless: The Man With the Yellow Hat often leaves George to his own devices. Let us repeat: ''George is a'' '''monkey'''.* ArtisticLicenseBiology: George is not a monkey, since he lacks a tail. (Possibly, he's a chimpanzee who is simply called a monkey, a common misnomer.)* BlackBeadEyes: In the books; also in the [[ImagineSpot Imagine Spots]] in the television show.* CatchPhrase: "Don't get into trouble." (in the books)** "Be a good little monkey." (in the cartoon series)* CuriousAsAMonkey: TropeNamer* EscapedAnimalRampage: A chimpanzee escapes from a zoo and has wacky mischievous adventures. * EverythingsBetterWithMonkeys: Although, technically, George is clearly a chimpanzee, despite what the books say. (Monkeys have tails, which George does not.)* GreatWhiteHunter: The Man with the Yellow Hat's role in the first book, where he captured George for an American zoo.* HeroesWantRedheads: Maggie.* HotTeacher: Maggie.* NiceHat: The Man With the Yellow Hat.* NobodyPoops: Monkeys and other primates cannot be housebroken and have to wear diapers to be kept as (sanitary) pets. Doesn't seem to be an issue with George. * NoNameGiven: The Man With the Yellow Hat, until the movie, which revealed [[NamedByTheAdaptation his name to be Ted Shackleford]].* PersonWithTheClothing: The Man with the Yellow Hat.* StockAnimalDiet: Three guesses what George likes to eat and the first two don't count.* YouMustBeThisTallToRide: One book has George go to an amusement park but being too small ride on a roller coaster or play with bunnies in the petting zoo. He then has a dream that he grew to five times his previous size, only to find he's now too big to fit on the roller coaster and too large to play with the bunnies safely.[[/folder]]

[[folder:The PBS TV Series]]* AerithAndBob: There are seven baby bunnies that belong to Bill. Their names are Fuzzy, Whitey, Brownie, Spotty, Black Ears, Cotton Tail... and Herbert Nenninger.* AffectionateNickname: Bill calls George "city kid".* AlwaysSomeoneBetter: Steve is always saying he's some kind of genius and belittling Betsy's age because Betsy is some kind of musical prodigy and he feels the need to compensate for his little sister being better than he at something.* ApesInSpace: Thanks to Professor Wiseman, George has gone on multiple space missions, one of them involving a spacewalk.* BathsAreFun: George generally tries to avoid baths when possible, however, it's shown that he can be lured into the bathtub with his bath toys, which help to make bathing fun for him. He also likes bubbles, but particularly likes his toy frog, Sproingy.* {{Canon}}: Depending on how you see it, the show can either be a direct continuation of the books or the movie (despite the man's name isn't Ted, though WordOfGod seems to heavily imply the books) since Curious George is a simple enough concept that doesn't have much continuity to begin with. "Monkey lives with human, gets into mischief"* CaretakerReversal: Occurs in a few of the tv series episodes.* Catch22Dilemma: In "Bee is for Bear," a beekeeper says that she can't remove a beehive from a tree unless the tree branches are trimmed down first. So they call in a tree-trimmer, who would be happy to remove the branches, if something is first done about the bees. It all comes to moot when a baby bear arrives and knocks down the hive.* CharacterizationMarchesOn: George is consistently shown as being childishly innocent, but his behavior in early episodes is different compared to later episodes. Early episode tend to showcase more of George messing up due to him not being that familiar with city life. While he can still mess up a bit, later episodes tend to have the problems come to him with him being more thoughtful, and his messing up comes from not looking through all his possibilities.* ChristmasSpecial: ''A Very Monkey Christmas''.* CloudCuckoolander: Allie to some degree. When George first meets her, he finds her in a bin with several chickens, which she emerges from, saying that now she knows what it's like to be a chicken and she doesn't recommend it because it's very boring. The narrator even states that George had seen a lot of strange things in his life, but this was new to him.* DontTryThisAtHome: See the above page quote; used with the twist that the only death-defying stunts George does are his monkey antics.** The "George can do things you can't do" warning got used less often as the series went on and George's adventures increasingly involved solving problems without his wreaking havoc. It doesn't seem to be at all present on the DVD releases, or the general broadcasts anymore for that matter.* EdutainmentShow: It's PBS, so there's no surprise. Educational themes include a general focus on science and nature, as well as problem-solving and engineering.* EverythingsBetterWithPenguins: In "Ice Station Monkey," George and the Man with the Yellow Hat travel to Antarctica to find an entire colony of chinstrap penguins.* [[FreeRangeChildren Free-Range Children and Monkeys]]: George often wanders through the city and countryside without the Man in the Yellow Hat's supervision despite the fact that '''George is a monkey'''. Not only that, but also all of the recurring children characters (Betsy and Steve in the city, Bill and Allie in the country) are generally left to their own devices without a responsible adult in sight.* GenderFlip + RaceLift + AgeLift: In the books, Prof. Wiseman was an old white guy. In the show, ''she's'' a 30-something black woman. See also BlackAndNerdy.* GoshDangItToHeck: In the episode "Water to Ducks," the Man with the Yellow Hat sees George and Bill's runaway wading pool hurtling towards him and lets fly with an "Oh, my hat!"* HalloweenEpisode: ''A Halloween Boo Fest''.* HaveIMentionedIAmHeterosexualToday: Bill, who always has to point out how George is a city kid.* ImagineSpot: A frequent occurrence, George's daydreams are usually depicted in thought balloons and involve an ArtShift in which characters are drawn in the style of the ''Curious George'' books. This isn't limited to just George - occasionally another character, such as Hundley the dog will have one too, with the accompanying Art Shift.* InsufferableGenius: ** Especially in the earlier seasons, Bill would routinely insist that there is a "proper way" to perform just about anything from sailing toy boats to squeezing water out of mops.*** He does own up to having holes in his knowledge base, such as when he had to learn how to dance and when he came up with an ill-advised plan to get rid of a beehive (involving mud, a catapult, and a wetsuit) that would have resulted in disaster had he been allowed to go through with it.*** The biggest gap in Bill's knowledge is that he has yet to realize that George is a monkey and not a typical "city kid," which is how Bill thinks of him.** To a lesser degree, George's city friend Steve thinks that all of his own ideas and solutions are genius simply because of what he perceives to be his elevated status as a fifth grader.* KangaroosRepresentAustralia: In "Monkey Down Under," George and the Man with the Yellow Hat go on an Australian outback safari. Yes, they see wallabies. Yes, they see koalas, emus, and dingoes. The bulk of the episode, however, deals with George's interactions with a kangaroo and her joey.* LargeHam: Chef Pisghetti. Not only does he employ an exaggerated Italian accent, but he also copes with most of his restaurant's problems by loudly and melodramatically proclaiming that he will never cook again.* LoveMakesYouDumb: The typically capable, confident, and uncannily polymathic Man In The Yellow Hat (and George) spends a day with Prof. Wiseman in the park, frantically trying to prevent her from having to lift a finger, because she needs to relax. Due to what many viewers suspect is a serious crush on the Professor, the Man completely bumbles every attempt to pamper her, which she gleefully fixes each time.* MeaningfulName:** Professor Wiseman, whose scientific area of expertise appears to be ''everything''.** George's country neighbor Clint Quint, who is a [[Film/{{Jaws}} fishing enthusiast]].** Also applies to the Quint family name (Mr. Quint and his four siblings are quintuplets) and to the first name of his sisters Sprint (a track runner) and Mint (a US Treasury official).* MythologyGag: In one episode, Mr. Glass tells George "don't get into trouble".* NamedLikeMyName: Professor Wiseman's associate Professor Einstein, who noted in his first appearance that he's not ''that'' [[UsefulNotes/AlbertEinstein Einstein]]. Wiseman's other associate, Professor Pizza, likewise felt obligated to clarify that he's not ''that'' pizza and was not involved with its invention.* {{Narrator}}: In the show.* NeatFreak: Hundley the lobby dog likes things to be orderly and dignified. He is therefore regularly horrified by George's ability to mess things up without any effort.* NiceJobBreakingItHero: As "Vacuum Monkey," George vacuums up every loose object in sight, including rare stamps, Charkey's dog biscuit, birdseed, and a winning lottery ticket.* OcularGushers: A RunningGag involves George imagining Bill crying these due to being upset about some mischief that he caused.* OncePerEpisode: George's curiosity would always get him in trouble. [[AllIsWellThatEndsWell Then he would do something heroic, and all would be forgiven]]. Well, assuming anyone even finds out what he did to get in trouble before he's able to fix it.* PluckyGirl: Allie, who is spirited and almost as inquisitive as George. In her first appearance, Allie remains remarkably upbeat when she winds up stuck in a tree and has to depend on George to get her down.* RaceLift: Bill is Caucasian in the books, while in the cartoon he's AmbiguouslyBrown (possibly African-American).* RidiculouslyCuteCritter: In the episode, "Bill's Bunnies." Also other various animals like baby ducks and Gnocchi the cat.* RubeGoldbergDevice: When George unwittingly ends up bidding $100 for a pair of mittens after getting into an auction war, the group begs the event organizers to let them re-auction the items, only to discover the other bidder has left, and the others scramble to find him before The Man gets yanked off stage. Instead, they could have just found the guy first and had him pay the $100 in exchange for them.* RussianReversal: Most mornings, George goes out on the porch to find the paper. In the opening of "Curious George Rides a Bike," "the paper found George," when the paperboy accidentally hits him with it.* ScaryShadowFakeout: George becomes scared of the dark until The Man with the Yellow Hat tells him that the monsters are just the same objects as they are in the light and gives him a nightlight.* ShirtlessScene: Only happened once in the episode Curious George Sees Stars, where the Man in the Yellow Hat is seen in his swim trunks.* SpoilerTitle: In "Curious George Takes a Job", guess what he does. And in "Curious George Takes Another Job", guess what he does again.* StealthPun: In "Doctor Monkey," the narrator comments that "George learned that the thing you need most in a doctor's waiting room... is patience."* SurpriseParty: In "Surprise Quints," a surprise party is held for the Quints, who [[MeaningfulName are quintuplets]] in their own home, and George has to keep them distracted from going there until it's ready.* TitleThemeTune: "And that is your reward, you're never bored, when you're curious, like ''Curious George''!"* TheUnintelligible: George only makes monkey noises rather than spoken language.** Other characters usually understand him easily by observing his gestures, the tone of his monkey noises, and the situational context.** For the audience, the Narrator helpfully explains George's thoughts and motivations.* UnusuallyUninterestingSight: Although one-shot characters sometimes remark, "Hey, it's a monkey!" upon seeing him, George doesn't seem to attract as much attention as one might expect from a freely roaming exotic animal in a Western society.** Occasionally lampshaded by the city firefighters, who wonder why they never get any "normal" calls whenever they respond to a call that's George-related.* YouHaveToHaveJews: Context makes it clear that Chef Pisghetti is Jewish -- in fact, he keeps a kosher kitchen.* YouMustBeThisTallToRide: In "Curious George vs. the Turbo Python 3000," both George and a little boy are stymied by this. George tries various tactics such as wearing a tall hat and raising up his arms, but they don't work. Then he tries to get bigger, only for a strong-man to tell him that he'll be as big and strong as him if he follows his routine... in five years. Then he hears that sleeping helps you to grow and so he goes to sleep, and has a dream in which he grows huge, only to be told that he can't ride the Turbo Python 3000 because he's too big to fit in the seat. In the end, George wins because Captain Zany, the head of the park, already had a loophole built in. He knows that monkeys don't grow very big, and so he spins around the sign revealing the "monkey sign," which is how tall monkeys must be to ride.* YouthfulFreckles: [[http://curious-george.wikia.com/wiki/Allie Allie]] is a spunky girl with red hair in a ponytail and freckles.[[/folder]]

[[folder:The Movies]]* AdaptationExpansion: TheMovie, especially the character of Ted.* BreakingTheFourthWall / ShoutOut: In ''Curious George 3: Back to the Jungle'', a character sitting on a bench is seen reading a newspaper with the headline "Creator/AngelaBassett." Bassett is the voice of Dr. Kulinda in the film.* BrutalHonesty: Maggie to Ted after Ted admits that it's his fault George he let George go back to Africa.-->'''Ted:''' I can't believe George is gone. And ItsAllMyFault.-->'''Maggie:''' Yes. It is.-->'''Ted:''' [[FlatWhat What?]]-->'''Maggie:''' Ted, do you want me to tell you what you want to hear, or do want to hear what you ''should'' hear, which I'll tell you, and not just just what you think you want to hear?* ButtMonkey: Ted takes a lot of slapstick.* CrazyPrepared: The theater's phone tree has an option for ''Klingon''.* CucumberFacial: George ends up in the bathroom of a woman who is doing this while also having a bath and paints her walls, followed by pouring paint in her bathtub.-->'''Ted''': Do yourself a favor. You're gonna wanna put the cucumbers back on.* DeadpanSnarker:** Ted in the movie, when things don't go well for him. ** Junior. Actually Junior is ''made'' of this.* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: During Ted's exchange with an unseen and unheard angry motorist, Ted yells back, "Well, that's physically impossible for me to do!"* ItWasWithYouAllAlong: George discovers upon holding the Zagawa trinket up to the light, it creates a pictogram map to the actual lost shrine of Zagawa, which is in Africa where he came from.* InkSuitActor: Most of the main characters resemble their voice actors (e.g. Maggie to Creator/DrewBarrymore, Mr. Bloomsberry to Creator/DickVanDyke) Ted the Man With The Yellow Hat doesn't look ''exactly'' like like Creator/WillFerrell, but the resemblance is still striking.* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Ivan.* MythologyGag: The ship George rides on back to the city is the "H. A. Rey".* NamedByTheAdaptation: Ted is The Man In The Yellow Hat.* TheNoseKnows: Ivan.* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Ted after he lets George get taken back to Africa.* {{Sequel}}: ''Curious George 2: Follow That Monkey'' - DirectToVideo and ''Curious George 3: Back to the Jungle'', also direct to video* SatelliteLoveInterest: Maggie, who beyond being Ted's love interest is mainly just a voice of reason.* SingleIssueLandlord: Only in TheMovie.* SuperCellReception: Ted's phone go off in the depths of Africa and he comments about the "strong signal" before answering it. Then again, the movie seems to enjoy lampshading and breaking the fourth wall every so often.* TheUnfavorite: Junior.* WellDoneSonGuy: Junior.[[/folder]]----